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Posted:19th Jan 2010i have just looking for someone thats tried it. thanks ill try those. what about combining martial arts into it? im a black belt in go kan ryu but trieing to get it right while spinning proving rather hard.

fire is alive. it lives and breathes. it consumes and destroys. but we control it and live with it, we are fire dancers

Posted:19th Jan 2010My main focus is combining poi with modern/contemporary dance and the last thing I want to do ever is stand still performing tricks. Keeping it simple and having amazing body movement is more fun to do and to watch in my opinion. Just do lots of practice to see how you can spin with different body movements to make sure there are no collisions.

I think you should experiment and use all of your skills to be a well rounded performer

~Rock on!~

"As the pattern gets more intricate and subtle, being swept along is no longer enough"-Waking Life

Posted:19th Jan 2010With martial arts stuff, you can use kicks and footwork. (Aikido has some particularly nice footwork.)

Hand techniques tend to be a bit harder because they are dictated by how the poi are spinning, but (I come from a relatively classical Goju Ryu background so not sure if you use the same terminology, and not sure my spelling is correct either) a 180' turn with exaggerated hike-uke can work, for example. In general you will need circular techniques in the plane that you are spinnning in. Again, aikido has some nice stuff that can be used.

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice."You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Interesting.... (In which case I will mention some stuff that might help that I have used on occasion, but will not make much sense unless you know Goju-Ryu kata.)

Also, like I said, you can only really use the footwork, your hands are already busy and full of poi. If done well, you can also try fairly explosive turns and steps. A good example is the sweep, forward step with oro-uchi towards the end of seiyunchin kata and the second-last movement of saifa. Well, not those movements precisely, but the feel of them.

Dance-wise, many things will work. I have seen ballet done with flags, so it should work for poi.

*brainwave* Anyone seen a good video with Lord of the Dance style tap? Since they tend to keep their hands still, it may have possibilities....

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice."You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Posted:22nd Jan 2010I have a friend who does Odissi (a style of Indian classical dance) and claims that it's incompatible with poi (she's the one who got me spinning). I disbelieve her. It makes me wish I was rich enough to put out hefty rewards for videos of unique poi/dance combinations like Odissi and Riverdance-esque tap.

Posted:23rd Jan 2010we do tagiyoko shodan, tagiyoko nidan, saifa, bassi dai, seiunchin, empi, sanseryu, sepai and hangetsu. theres more but i only know up to hangetsu. we also do tenchu but its not a grade kata so i dont know it, wouldnt mind learning it though

fire is alive. it lives and breathes. it consumes and destroys. but we control it and live with it, we are fire dancers

Posted:8th Feb 2010I've really been getting into gypsy, eastern European style music and wanted to incorporate some of their dancing technique into my scheme. I've got moves like Al Gore though so it's going to take some work...

"Are you sure it's safe to drink bleach?""Yes, bleach is 90% water, we are 90% water, therefore: we are bleach."-Nathan Explosion, Metalocalypse

Posted:7th Apr 2010i irish dance and have been learning poi and while it's true, your arms are kept at your side for irish dancing and could presumably be busy spinning poi, i think in terms of rhythm, flow, and body momentum, it would be a weird combination. Irish dance is a lot about precision and tight-ness and while there is a certain precision in the flow of spinning poi (you know, when you get something dead on and it just feels right and then you can start riding out that flow and trying other moves), the precision of irish dancing is pretty different. Hands are kept at your side, because the focus is on your feet, you should always be up on your toes and your leg movements should always be sharp and quick. But! When I get really into spinning poi or hoops, I do find myself inadvertently up on my toes, and how I move across any area I may have is heavily informed by Irish dancing. It would be very awkward to try to incorporate poi into an irish dance, but I think Irish dancing can inform how you move your body while spinning poi, if no more than how ballet would.

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able, and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" - Epicurus